


Shortbread and Cookies

by starbirdrampant (ineasako22)



Series: Tumblr writing prompts [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Found Family, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-18
Updated: 2017-01-18
Packaged: 2018-09-18 06:56:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9373145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ineasako22/pseuds/starbirdrampant
Summary: In hindsight, Poe thinks, they really should have expected this.A response to a prompt bysourlanderon tumblr."send me a made-up fic title and i’ll tell you what i would write to go with it" tumblr prompt





	

After Rey gets back from Ahch-to – dragging a bemused (and in turns annoyed) Luke Skywalker – there’s the initial kerfuffle of Master Skywalker’s return, General Organa’s reaction, and the all around lightening of spirits that was desperately needed after the attack on Starkiller Base, even with the “victorious” outcome.

Rey, in comparison, settles in quietly in the room across the hall from Finn. Which means she’s right next to Poe – and while he’s thrilled to have her here, it might be less awkward if she would stop staring at him with that unreadable _look_ in her eyes… Still, she’s a good neighbor – definitely better than Jess, who plays music at odd hours, or Snap, who snores loud enough after a double shift to shake the walls – and Poe has no complaints.

The problems – well, not really problems, more like events that no one knows what to do with – start coming when the cooks and quartermasters start complaining that food supplies are going missing. A general bulletin is posted – right around the time that Luke takes Rey on a week-long Jedi exercise – and that seems to solve the problem. But when Rey gets back – along with an influx of new recruits after the Hosnian Massacre – the supply theft starts up again.

It isn’t until Rey shows up in the hangar after he and Black Squadron touch down from a thirty-six hour patrol with a wrapped, fragrant bundle clutched in her hands that Poe even gets an inkling of what must have been happening.

“Here,” she says, and shoves the bundle at him before leaving the hangar, shoulders hunched like he might try to stop her. 

But he doesn’t. He can’t, really, but it has less to do with the fact that this is the twelfth word she’s said to him (along with “Hi,” “My name’s Rey,” and “Thank you for taking care of Finn”) and more to do with having gone thirty-six hours without sleeping. (He ends up taking the bundle back to his quarters with him and sleeping for a shift and a half.)

When he wakes up again, however, that’s when things start getting weird.

For one, nearly _everyone_ on the base has cookies, even the new recruits who’ve only been here for less than a month. For another, even though the cookies don’t look like much – they’re basically golden brown lumps without any kind of identifying features – everyone agrees that they’re the best cookies that anyone’s ever had. 

The only thing is, no one knows who made them.

He returns to his quarters after his half-shift (mostly maintenance on his X-wing) and ends up staring at the bundle by his bed pensively. He finds what he’s expecting when he opens it – two dozen golden brown lump-cookies (which is twice the number everyone except Finn, General Organa, Chewbacca, and Master Skywalker got) – and realizes that he knows exactly what’s been happening with the stolen food that Supplies was complaining about. The only thing he doesn’t know is _why_.

The next day, he finds Rey with Finn (who’s still in physical therapy) and pulls her aside to ask about the cookies. (He tries to not let her slowly stiffening shoulders affect him, much, but makes sure to keep his voice gentle anyways.)

“Did you make these?” he asks, showing her the (admittedly half-eaten) bundle of cookies she’d given him.

She nods, now looking entirely uncomfortable, but Poe has to ask anyways.

“Why? Don’t get me wrong, they’re delicious and I love them,” he tells her. “But why?”

Rey shrugs, and he sees years of careful projections of confidence in the motion. “Because I heard it was a thing you do, when you get somewhere new. You give people food.” She wrinkles her nose. “Except I wasn’t sure how to make these, so I had to try a couple of times.”

“So… why not tell anyone?” he asks. “Why keep it a secret? I know Jess would have loved to help you with baking.”

Rey scuffs a foot across the floor. “On Jakku, sharing food meant you were family. I wanted to give everyone cookies, but I’m not sure I could deal with _that_ much family.” She throws him a hesitant, fluttering grin. 

“But you told me…” Oh. _Oh._ He beams back at her, though he can’t quite smile as brightly as Finn, and is rewarded by the sudden relaxation of her tense posture. “Thanks, Rey.”

She smiles back just as brightly – oh, wow, so that’s why Finn likes her so much – and Poe manages to pull his thoughts back together long enough to say the first thing that comes to mind.

“Say, Finn mentioned that he wanted to learn to cook too, want to join us? I could teach you guys some of my grandma’s secret recipes?” He gives her a mock admonishing look. “But you can’t go sharing _those_ around.”

_Being near a happy Rey is like standing on a warm beach_ , he realizes, once Rey agrees enthusiastically and runs back to tell Finn. _So if Finn’s sunlight, and she’s the warm sand, does that make me the ocean?_

**Author's Note:**

> [My tumblr is here.](http://starbirdrampant.tumblr.com/) Come say hello!
> 
> If you would like to send in a prompt of your own, just let me know what it's for so I don't get a random ask out of the blue!


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